The Islamic State's social media strategy
The Islamic State is using social and other media to recruit followers and scare its enemies into submission.
Arabic news websites' most-read stories are currently those related to atrocities allegedly committed by the Islamic State (IS). The topics of these stories vary from sexual violence to beheadings, and all sorts of behavior inherent to medieval times. Some stories involve internationally known figures who are quoted saying things about IS; the row over former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s memoir is a good example.
The Clinton-IS story started when several Arab-language websites posted a report claiming that Clinton wrote in her memoir "Hard Choices" that the United States assisted the formation of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) to cause division in the Arab world, and that Washington and its European allies agreed ISIS would be established on July 5, 2013. According to this fabricated story, however, this plan collapsed due to the June 30 Revolution in Egypt that targeted the Muslim Brotherhood and ousted former President Mohammed Morsi.
